


It’s a long long way to Ba Sing Se

by OctolingO



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Avatar the Last Airbender AU, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-04
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:46:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,548
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29003952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OctolingO/pseuds/OctolingO
Summary: Nine Avatars from across time are awakened to fight against a growing threat.(ATLA AU, but you don’t need much knowledge of the series to read)
Relationships: Mentioned Time/Malon
Comments: 12
Kudos: 57





	1. Chapter 1

_ Avatar Time… _

Time wearily blinked his eye open, looking around. He knew where he was, though it admittedly looked different now. Lon Lon Ranch, his residence and eventually where he died, had had a tomb built to house his body. 

Only, he was alive now. For some reason. 

_ Hylia can’t even allow me to die.  _ He thought to himself as he stood up, stretching. The last thing he remembered was clutching Malon’s hand, and even with the gray in her fiery hair she had still been beautiful, and she had been crying. 

And then he’d presumably been reincarnated into the next Avatar, who had been Avatar Rosso, and then Avatar Teba, and then Avatar Ruto. He had decided to remove himself from Avatar affairs since then, unless the Avatar used the Avatar State—in that case he had no choice in the matter; he was helping whether he wanted to or not. 

The tomb had been painted and polished, as he had discovered when going into the Spirit World, but it was old now. Old and forgotten, as Time probably was. He hadn’t done anything substantial while he had been the Avatar, at least not as an adult and fully realized Avatar. His childhood had seen him adventuring through the neighboring land of Termina, but he had only been able to do earthbending and some self-healing waterbending (at the time, he hadn’t realized he’d been healing himself, he’d just thought he had an exceptional constitution).  Time was about to earthbend the rock away from the tomb door when a flash of light suddenly burned in his vision. 

_ Avatar Legend…  _

Legend woke with a start. He was in… a shrine? Yes, a shrine. At least, that was where he last remembered being, after perishing in his battle against Dethl. Maybe the islanders had hoped the shrine would save his life. 

Well, he certainly didn’t seem dead now, so yay for him. 

Legend was already irritated at how his shrine looked. His memories of it were foggy, and he’d never been one for the Spirit World, but he remembered it looking more colorful. For some reason, an image of painted seashells was very clear in his mind, and he could see remnants of said image on the walls, though time had worn away the paint and clearly no one had cared enough to repair it. That, or they’d feared invoking the Avatar’s wrath if they distrubed his final resting place. 

Which made perfect sense. Avatar Legend, as he had been known, had originally been a firebender and he’d had a hotheaded personality to match. Breathing fire had been a personal favorite of his. It was fun to watch the color drain from people’s faces when you cooked your food with your mouth. 

Regardless, he had been dead not even five minutes before and he wasn’t now. Judging by the state of the shrine, it had been years and years, and Legend distinctly remembered trying to coach the rather timid Avatar Medli. If memory served, Avatar Hyrule had followed, and Legend had taken great pleasure in assisting the young waterbender, as Medli had been distracted with other matters. The next Avatar had been a merchant with a strange name, though the name wouldn’t come to mind, and then Avatar Warriors. Legend had not liked the other firebender much; he was snarky and arrogant and all around a bit of a snob. He had given up on trying to teach his reincarnations after Avatar Warriors. 

The shrine was practically crumbling to pieces near the roof, so it wasn’t much work to send out a quick blast of fire and propel himself out of it, landing softly on the beach. 

Something glinted out of the corner of his eyes. 

_ Avatar Wind… _

Wind took a moment to get his bearings behind closed eyelids before sitting up and looking around. Unique for an airbender, his burial chamber had a sword on one side: the sword he had used to defeat the demon Malladus. An airbender using a sword was a notable feat, one shared by only one other Avatar, Avatar Sky. Sky had defeated the demon Demise. Wind’s death had been a terribly tragic accident, caused by his incompetence at firebending. He had been on Tetra’s ship when it had caught fire, and he hadn’t been able to deter the flames fast enough. He had no idea if Tetra had survived or not. 

He hoped she had; she didn’t deserve to die because he couldn’t firebend. 

The jars containing foods, probably dried fruits of some kind, hinted that the monks had expected Wind to come back, which they wholeheartedly had. 

After all, Avatar Revali from the Rito Air Temple had haunted people as a ghost for decades, and Avatar Medli’s harp could still be heard playing in a few of the rooms at the Dragon Roost Air Temple. 

And now, for some reason, Wind joined them among the airbenders who couldn’t stay dead. 

He still wasn’t sure what had awoken him, besides that soft feminine voice calling him from the grave. Perhaps it had been another airbender Avatar, though Avatar Medli had been one of the only female ones. 

The glowing orb of light in the corner of his burial chamber ought to offer some answers. 

_ Wild…  _

The room was freezing. This was the first thing Wild noticed upon coming to and squinting against the lantern at the top of the igloo. It was a miracle that the lantern hadn’t melted snow onto his face yet. 

He was lying on top of some sort of pedestal, made of ice. There wasn’t anything else in the igloo, save for some talismans made of owl feathers hanging off his arms. 

Wild pushed himself up, looking around. The igloo didn’t have any people in it, either, and judging by the moonlight streaming in from a hole at the igloo’s top, it was night. The full moon shone down onto Wild’s scarred body. He blew a strand of snow white hair from his face. 

Wait,  _ white _ hair? That wasn’t right! His hair was gold!

Wild frantically pulled more of his hair into his vision, seeing that it was all the same color of perfect and pristine white. He stood up and noticed an inscription on the side of his pedestal. 

**Please, Nayru. Save him.**

A rather brief message, but one that brought memories crashing down on Wild like a tidal wave. He had been dying,  _ dead _ , even, in the Northern Water Tribe. The tribe’s chiefs had prayed to the moon spirit, Nayru, to revive him. 

Wild had heard of a similar thing happening to a princess of the Northern Water Tribe, almost a thousand years prior. She had needed to go into a sleep, a sleep that was impossible to wake from, in order to seal away a demonic presence. Nayru had given up a portion of her spirit to awaken the princess once the demon had been dealt with. 

It seemed Wild was in the same situation.

The moon suddenly grew bright with a brilliant golden glow. 

_ Avatar Four…  _

_ Come on, really?  _ Blue complained.  _ We were dead!  _

_ Maybe we should be grateful that we’re not dead now.  _ Vio said. 

_ Maybe we should ask Hylia to leave us alone! _

__ _ Can we not fight?  _ Red asked. 

__ _ Yeah!  _ Green said adamantly.  _ Whatever the reason for this is, it’s sure to take us on an adventure! _ _   
_ __ _ Oh great, another adventure.  _

Four ignored their voices, at least for the time being. The mushroom-shaped room in which he had been placed after his death was well cared for, unsurprisingly. The people of the Minish Colonies, or rather the Picori of it, were very diligent in their work, and caring for an Avatar who had grown up among them was a very important duty. Normally, a firebender Avatar was cremated, but there had been a few throughout history who had not been, namely himself, Avatar Legend, and Avatar Warriors. 

Besides, Four had defeated an evil sorcerer during his time as the Avatar. He deserved a more traditional burial rather than being burned to ash. 

It appeared that he had been mummified, or some version of it, when he had died. There were scraps of bandages hanging off his arms and legs, and a particularly annoying bandage covered one of his eyes. He tore that one off first. 

As Four stripped all of the wrappings off, Kinstones began to fall to the ground. The Picori had decided to place amulets of sorts within the bandages, as they sometimes did. It would also explain why the cloth felt so heavy; it was stuffed with stones. 

The mural on one side of the room depicted him, or a version of him. 

Well, five versions, actually. Green, with the determined smile he so often wore, Red, grinning, Blue, in the process of rolling his eyes, Vio, a hand on his chin, and Shadow. Shadow was smiling as if he knew a secret no one else knew. 

Just seeing Shadow made a pang go through Four’s heart. He could hear Vio in the back of his head, commenting on the mural’s craftsmanship as his voice broke. 

One of the Kinstones turned to gold. 

_ Avatar Twilight…  _

Twilight was in a dark, rather damp stone chamber. He knew what it was, it was the cave he had specifically requested to be placed in after his death, which had come faster than he’d expected it to. 

The cave had no adornments, save for a long-burned out candle. From what he’d seen in the Spirit World, the residents of Ordon Village had been placing gifts outside and around the chamber for generations, however. Someone had even placed a replica of the Twilight Mirror, that Twilight had wanted to smash to pieces. He was still planning to, after he earthbent his way out of here. 

Twilight paused, a scraping echoing through the cave. 

“Who’s there?” He said, voice bouncing off the walls and call going unanswered. A rather large and furry gray wolf trotted out of the shadows, tail wagging furiously. Twilight gasped. “Wolfie? You’re alive too?” Wolfie gave an affirmative yip, and Twilight couldn’t help but laugh ever so slightly. He had had many companions as he’d battled against the Twilight Realm’s forces, Wolfie being one of them. Epona and Midna had been the other two. 

He still had no idea where  _ his  _ Epona was, but he had heard from some of the other Avatars that Epona had been a companion for them, too. Maybe the horse was somehow tied to the Avatar Spirit. 

“Glad to see you’re okay.” Twilight sat down and let Wolfie lick all over his face. “We should see what this is all about.” He stood, with Wolfie sitting next to him as he scratched the animal’s head. 

The candle in the corner of the chamber ignited, burning a tower of yellow flames. 

_ Avatar Sky…  _

Sky rolled over, grasping at one of the pillows that had been placed in his shrine. He buried his face in it. 

__ _ Avatar Sky, you must wake up…  _

With a rather defeated groan, Sky opened his eyes and quickly realized he was in his body, not in the Spirit World. His shrine, despite him being one of the very first Avatars (preceded only by airbender Avatar Hylia, waterbender Nayru, earthbender Farore, and firebender Din), was extremely well-preserved. The pillows seemed new; the monks must have replaced them recently. Sky could’ve laughed as he looked around at his shrine. It seemed his reputation as a rather sleepy and laid-back Avatar had not dissipated with time. If anything, it had grown. 

No one realistically would use that many pillows. However, Sky wasn’t going to complain. 

His sword, in all its glimmering glory, was hung from a peg on one side of the room. The Master Sword. Not many airbender Avatars had used weapons, and certainly not swords. Avatar Revali and Avatar Teba had been very good at the bow, but a sword was unusual for an airbender’s fighting style. It was too clunky, most of the time. Sky had spent years mastering the art of using a sword that was as heavy as the Master Sword was. 

He wondered if the Sword’s spirit still dwelled in the blade. Fi had been a very useful companion, even if she had been a bit long winded. 

As if to answer his question, the Master Sword’s blade flashed gold. 

_ Avatar Hyrule… _

Hyrule opened his eyes almost instantly, jumping up and reaching for his sword. He jolted when he realized where he was. A damp and musty cave, containing nothing more than a ruined tapestry, a lantern with no flame, and his sword. Hyrule grabbed the sword and strapped it onto his waist before completely getting his bearings. This cave must have been where he’d died. His memory of the days before his death were not very clear, but they were clear enough to let him realize he had died of natural causes, not some accursed demon spirit trying to steal his blood.

The cave contained nothing, so Hyrule figured he would earthbend some of the rock away. He set his feet wide apart and steady; a typical earthbending stance. He jabbed out with both fists and then pushed his arms apart, expecting the rock to do the same. 

It did not. It seemed Hyrule had only been left with his original bending as opposed to the four he had mastered as a true Avatar. 

Well, that only left one way to go; towards the small hole in the back of the cave. Hyrule shuddered just thinking about it, he was a claustrophobic person and nothing in him wanted to go into the niche. 

It seemed he wouldn’t have to, for the time being, as a golden fairy flew out from within the unlit lantern. 

_ Avatar Warriors…  _

Warriors drew his sword, as someone of his rank had been put in a crypt with his weapon on his back. The voice, whoever it had been, did not call to him again. Warriors kicked at the dirt and sheathed his blade. The crypt he was in was reserved for war heroes from the Fire Nation. He knew Princess Artemis was buried here as well, though he had never been able to find exactly where. Mentoring the next Avatar, who had been Avatar Wind, had taken up most of his time. 

Warriors still smiled at the thought of the chipper young Avatar, and grimaced at the thought of that same boy (for he was just a boy, regardless of his bending prowess) dying on a burning ship while Warriors was powerless to stop him. Why the Avatar State had not been effective then was still a mystery, even after he had discussed it with Wind. 

He could not see anything beyond where he was in the crypt, and even then what he could see looked like any other crypt: bones, piles of them strewn across the floor. Grave diggers certainly had their fun in areas like these. 

Warriors created a small ball of flame in one hand to see by, as he began walking through the crypt. Vertebrae crunched under his boots, making him shiver. For an Avatar, this was rather poor treatment. Though it made sense, by the time of his death, the Fire Nation had still been recovering from the war they had just fought; against the other nations. At the time, Warriors had been 100% dedicated to the cause. It was only after he had died, and met some of the other Avatars who had frowned upon him as he had cut a bloody path to what was more of a truce than a victory, that he had realized how wrong he had been. Avatar Legend had been especially… enlightening, in his own abrasive way. 

A golden coin caught his attention, glowing against his flickering firelight. 

The nine Avatars (well, eight Avatars and one embodiment of the Moon Spirit) found themselves standing in an infinite expanse, ankle-deep in water. 

“Oh. Seems like more than just one of us are not-dead.” Four said, crossing his arms.

“Yeah, no kidding.” Legend said. 

“What are we doing here?” Twilight looked around, unsatisfied with the identical terrain. As Time remembered, the ranch hand had an accent marking him as someone from the rural area of the Earth Kingdom. Malon had had that accent, too, and the comparison was enough to make his heart ache.

“Yes, that is the question.” A woman’s voice said. The Avatars spun, seeing a golden-haired woman in a robe that looked as if it was made from mist as it swirled around her floating above them. 

“Avatar Hylia.” Sky said, dropping to one knee. Wind gave a little bow, but beyond that none of the other Avatars tried to show their respect. Legend even had to refrain from giving Hylia an obscene gesture. He did not have much reverence for previous Avatars, especially not the original four who had started the accursed Avatar Cycle. 

“I’m afraid I have a lot of questions that need to be answered and not a lot of time to answer them.” Hylia said. “While time will not pass for you in the real world, things can still happen here that could affect the real world.”

“So tell us what you need to tell us so we can go.” Legend said, as if it were the most obvious thing. 

“Always so impulsive, Avatar Legend.” Hylia shook her head and laughed; a sound like a chiming bell. Legend grit his teeth. Hylia’s face sobered as she spoke again. “I have revived you nine because there is a terrible threat rising against Hyrule. The Demon King, Ganondorf. He is not a true Avatar, as the Avatar Cycle has ended, but he can bend more than one element.”   
“How is that possible?” Wind asked. 

“I do not know. I suspect he has been performing rituals on some of the previous Avatars, though I cannot even begin to guess how.”

“Well, what elements can he bend?” Time said. 

“He can bend fire and water, thus far. He seems exceptionally adept at lightingbending and bloodbending.”   
“Sounds like a formidable enemy.” Warriors said grimly. Hylia nodded. 

“Unfortunately, my reviving of you was not able to give you the full reach of your Avatar abilities. You have only retained the ability to bend your original elements.”   
“Thanks.” Legend said dryly. Hyrule elbowed him, and he grunted, but made no move to change what he’d said. 

“Avatar Legend, I know full well what you think of me, but I’m not asking you to do this for me. I’m asking you to do this for Hyrule.” 

“Whatever.” Legend rolled his eyes. 

“Where should we go to start?” Twilight said. 

“I believe it would be a good choice to head to the city of Ba Sing Se. Ganondorf would have considerable trouble finding you there.” 

“Ba Sing Se?” Warriors said skeptically. “That’s rather far away, you know.” 

“I have faith in each and every one of you.” Hylia went on, as if Warriors hadn’t spoken at all. The firebender narrowed his eyes at her. “I must return you to the real world. Please, do not fail.” 

With a crash that sounded like crackling lightning, Hylia whisked the nine of them back to Hyrule. 


	2. Chapter 2

Wind awoke quickly, standing as if he’d never been torn to Hylia’s Realm in the first place. Judging by what the Avatar woman had said, it was as if he’d never even left. 

“How do I get out of here…” He mused. The Outset Air Temple was closer to ground level than most other Air Temples, but it still would very much kill him if he tried to jump off, and he didn’t have his glider to assist him. And, considering the chamber he was in was underground and he had no way to get out since he couldn’t earthbend, the drop to the surface was currently the least of his worries. “Hello?” His voice bounced back to him unanswered. “Hello? Anyone out there?”   
“A-Avatar Wind?” A voice squeaked. A door slid open, evidently through earthbending, and there was a timid-looking boy with brown hair and striking green eyes on the other side of it. He stumbled against the doorframe as he saw Wind standing there, very much not dead. “You—”

“I’m alive, I know.” Wind said. The boy couldn’t seem to form words, he was just staring at Wind in shock. Wind snapped his fingers a few times, and the boy shook his head. 

“Excuse me, Avatar, I must have forgotten my manners. I’m Makar.” 

“Nice to meet you, Makar. You can just call me Wind, by the way. The Avatar nonsense isn’t necessary.” Wind said. Makar nodded uncertainly, blinking as if he was working over the words in his head. “I need to get to Ba Sing Se, can you get me a way out?”   
“Oh, um, your bison is alive too.” Makar said. “He’s upset.” Wind gasped. 

“Nohansen is alive?”He exclaimed. 

“Yeah, I think your awakening revived him.”    
“Can you show me?” Wind asked, barely containing his excitement. Makar beckoned over his shoulder, walking from the burial chamber. Wind grabbed his sword and shield as he left, strapping them onto his back. 

Makar led him to a flying bison, roaring and lashing out at a multitude of airbender monks who were flying out of the way. The bison looked at Wind, and it immediately calmed down, making happy noises as Wind approached. Wind pressed his hands into Nohansen’s fur, leaning against his flank. 

“I missed you.” He whispered. 

“Avatar Wind.” A rather burly airbender said with a respectful bow. “What brings you back to us?”   
“I have to fly to Ba Sing Se.” Wind said. The monk nodded, smiling knowingly. 

“Then we should not hold you up any longer. Be off, Avatar, and we wish you the best of luck.” Wind thanked the monk, then climbed up onto Nohansen and sighed. It really had been ages since he’d ridden the bison, at least in the real world. He’d ridden Nohansen in the Spirit World, but it wasn’t quite the same. 

He took to the skies, soaring through the clouds and heading towards Ba Sing Se. 

Twilight blinked, rubbing at his forehead. Wolfie licked his fingers, and he rubbed the animal’s head. 

“I’m fine, buddy.” He said reassuringly. “Now. We probably shouldn’t leave through here; we would give the villagers a heart attack. Do you know another way out?” Wolfie nodded, and he started towards the back of the cave, where he had originally appeared. There was a small tunnel, short enough that Twilight had to bent over to walk through it. The tunnel led to a dead end, and Wolfie snorted. Twilight knew that the snort meant he was supposed to earthbend; he and Wolfie practically had their own language. 

Twilight formed his hands into fists, bringing them back to his pointed ears and then shoving them forward, splaying his fingers as he did so. The end of the tunnel flew away from him and exposed the outdoors: a forest, with a few animals and birds that were startled away by the earthbending. Twilight happily left the caves behind; he’d been claustrophobic for years after being imprisoned, and that hadn’t changed at all since his death. Wolfie stepped up beside him, tail still wagging. It was adorably innocent for an animal such as a wolf. Twilight carefully went around the side of the mound he had been buried in, finding the pile of offerings outside the tomb’s original entrance. Twilight grabbed a well-made iron sword, as well as a wooden shield emblazoned with the head of Ordon Goat. He found the Twilight Mirror model and earthbent a rock into it, smiling grimly when it shattered and sent shards of glass everywhere. 

“Alright.” He said, turning back to Wolfie, who cocked his head. “Now let’s get going.” 

Wild sat up as soon as he was back in his own body, grabbing one of the owl feather talismans off of his wrist. It was two feathers and a string that kept them together, and he used it to tie his hair back so that he wouldn’t risk it getting in his face as he tried to return to… somewhere. 

Wherever he had been before. 

Wild realized he didn’t actually know where that was, but he was sure he could figure it out. He’d always been good with directions. Wild simply walked out of the igloo, as there really wasn’t a door of any kind. It was a miracle he hadn’t been torn apart by a polar bear dog or something, maybe Nayru really had laid a blessing on him. 

He almost laughed. Nayru, blessing him of all people. It was ridiculous. 

Outside of the igloo, Wild could barely see anything but a blanket of snow, and a wall of it rising in the distance.  _ That must be a city.  _ He thought, resolving to go towards it, despite the fact that it was cold enough to freeze his fingers off in minutes. 

Wild started walking through the snow, doing his best to use his bending and open a path of frozen earth in front of him. 

Koholint Island was… empty. Legend remembered it being bustling, full of people and animals alike, but now, there was no one there. His house, the one he had lived in with Marin, was just on the edge of the coast, and its roof was completely caved in. Legend had never visited Koholint in the Spirit World, it was much too painful for him, but he hoped Marin had not died painfully. 

She probably had, given what he’d done to the island’s central spirit, the Wind Fish. The thought was not a comforting one by any means. 

Legend kicked at the sand, muttering to himself. How on earth was he supposed to get to Ba Sing Se? He was on an island! And he couldn’t waterbend his way off either, thanks to Hylia taking three-fourths of his bending away. He sighed before deciding to simply walk along the edge of the island and hope he found something.

To his delight (and also slight suspicion), there was a raft tipped over on its side, just a ways down the sandy coastline. Legend pushed the raft back upright, wincing as he got a splinter in his hand, and pushed it out so it was just partly in the water. 

The raft didn’t have any supplies, but Legend could use his firebending to propel it quickly across the ocean, so he wouldn’t need any supplies regardless. The raft bobbed lazily on the waves, and it rocked when Legend stepped onto it. He pushed away his rather unpleasant recollections of being struck by lightning on his original journey to Koholint. He couldn’t afford to be distracted right now. 

Legend blasted two streams of fire from his hands, sending the raft skipping across the seas. He cursed and grabbed the mast with his other hand, increasing the firepower in the hand that was still bending. 

He hummed to himself as he sailed; remembering some of his time as the Avatar. Once this all blew over, he would have to find Marin’s grave (if she even had one) and pay her the proper respects. 


End file.
